Bloc Socialiste
The Bloc Socialiste was a democratic socialist party dedicated to the preservation of the welfare state, the nationalisation of all major industries, the establishment of Democratic Workers' Councils as the new medium for corporate management, the end of white supremacy, equality of opportunity and outcome under the law and in society, and the abolition of capitalism. Cassandra Duvalier, daughter of ex-party head Renard Duvalier, was the General Secretary of the party, with Richard LeClerc as her Deputy General Secretary. Although the Bloc only occasionally served as the largest party in the National Assembly, it consistently retained the largest member base of all the parties since its inception in 2177. History The Bloc Socialiste assumed its last form when Cassandra Duvalier led a major push to return the party to its roots in old Dranian politics. Several years prior, the Dranland Communist Party was established when Renard Duvalier was unanimously elected General Secretary of the party and moved to change the party's name from the Dranland National Union to the Dranland Communist Party. The Dranland National Union was founded in June 2189 after Renard Duvalier assumed control of the Sozialbundnis (BS/KPB), the DNU's mother party. It can trace its roots back to the Bloc Socialiste, which was founded in May 2177, making the Bloc Socialiste the oldest in the nation. After the restructuring, the Afro-Dranian community newly embraced the party, while many of its old constituents moved to other parties as a result of its major move to the left. Before moving to the Republic of Dranland, the Bloc Socialiste was active in the Republic of Egelion under the name of the Labour Party. Many within the Sozialbundnis' leadership circle were members of the Labour Party, although most of them were expelled from the party or disappeared altogether after Duvalier assumed control of the party. The restructuring of the Sozialbundnis was partly inspired by the funding of rogue Al'Badaran movements by rebels within the party, headed by Dr. Maria Rivas and Irving Blackmon. It is thought that either Dr. Rivas or Mon. Duvalier is responsible for the subsequent murder of Blackmon, although there is no evidence implicating either one of the two in his death. Dr. Malcolm Davis, who headed the party at the time, expelled the two rogue members from the party, and opened them up to a trial. This move was hotly contested by many powerful party members, eventually culminating in the murder of Dr. Davis, supposedly by Duvalier's personal security force. These violent twists did not deal the fatal blow to the party that most suspected, however, as the Dranland Socialist Party remains one of the most influential parties in Dranland politics. This, coupled with the influence of Radio Free Dranland and La Solidarité, the Bloc's media arms that rank second in popularity in the private media, made Renard Duvalier one of the nation's hottest bones of contention, until his departure from the nation and subsequent expulsion from the Dranland Socialist Party. Elections were then held for the party's Secretariat, resulting in a large victory for Dominique Carrefour and his bloc after he recieved the backing of Cassandra Duvalier, Renard Duvalier's daughter and former DCP candidate for Trade and Industry Minister. Several days after these elections, a foreign bank account containing 77,000,000,000 DRA was set up in Cassandra Duvalier's name, presumably by her father. After Renard Duvalier's death of a massive cocaine overdose, Cassandra Duvalier's fortune grew to approximately 117 billion DRA. When the Ubuntu Tower in Port Ubuntu, Elbian, the headquarters of the former Dranland Communist Party, was bombed in 2205, Cassandra Duvalier was elected to the position of General Secretary of the DCP and renamed the party, forming the Dranland Socialist Party and subsequently the Bloc Socialiste. Party Structure The structure of the Bloc Socialiste was vaguely similar to the communist parties of the past. Every time a general election was held in the Republic of Dranland, members of the Bloc Socialiste participated in an election for the Secretariat, the chief policy-crafting body in the party. The Secretariat consisted of 1,000 members, who were elected on a porportional basis; voters selected the group within the party (for example, Cassandra Duvalier's Solidarity, the majority group in the Secretariat) that they approved of, and seats were allocated according to the vote percentages. The Secretariat then voted on a General Secretary, the top position in the party. Bloc candidates for Parliament were selected from the Secretariat, as well as the candidates for cabinet positions. The Secretariat in turn decided what the party's positions on various issues were. Tonton Militia & The Tontons The Tonton Militia, a private paramilitary group controlled by Renard Duvalier, disbanded in 2199 and was put under the control of the Dranian government under orders from Renard Duvalier and Dominique Carrefour, then the party's acting General Secretary. Prior to this, it was the third largest paramilitary group in Terra with access to nuclear weapons. It was the driving force in the occupation of Elbian and the establishment of the short-lived People's Republic of Dranland; ironically, the militia was given to the Dranian Military as a gesture of goodwill after Renard Duvalier's departure, making Dranland one of the major military powers in the area at the time. The Tontons, the humanitarian wing of the former Tonton Militia, remained a large global force for several years to come, fighting poverty, hunger, disease, and provided education. With the building of the Tour Secrétariat, the Tontons expanded their arsenal against poverty and need in Dranland. To date, the Tontons had served over 200 million meals to the hungry, provided health care for an estimated 12 million Dranians, and given a complete education to almost 50,000 at educational centres across the country. The Tontons were also mainly responsible for the extensive development of Port Ubuntu, one of Dranland's least-polluted major cities. Epilogue After the bombing of the Ubuntu Tower that resulted in the tragic deaths of many of the top figures in the Dranland Socialist Party, including Dominique Carrefour, Cassandra Duvalier was elected to the position of General Secretary of the party. This came as no surprise, as it is widely known that she had a measure of control over the party since her father's departure from the country. The Bloc Socialiste partnered with the Theta ARC/KRC in a governing coalition until 2206, when the Secretariat reached a decision that the alliance should be broken. The Dranland Socialist Party then partnered with the National Progressive Party, the Dranland Xinquotang, and the Dranland Pro-Life Party, catapulting the left and centre-left into power once more. Cassandra Duvalier welcomed this news, as unlike Dominique Carrefour, she found allying the party with a right-wing element to be distasteful and unpleasant. Politically, the alliance between the Bloc Socialiste and the Theta ARC/KRC had ended a short time before, with the introduction of the Resolution to Maintain Government Integrity, Responsibility, and Neutrality, a bill ensuring that religious elements such as the Church of Scientology, a major backer of the Theta ARC/KRC, had no influence on government policy or military intelligence acquisition. In 2209, after many years of partnership with the Dranian left, the Dranland Pro-Life Party agreed to a cabinet coalition with Theta ARC/KRC and the Progressive Darwinist Party. By accepting, they doubled the amount of ministries they controlled and was widely seen by political analysts as an excellent short-term choice, and if they could avoid breaking their alliance with the right-wing as the Bloc Socialiste did in the past, an excellent long-term solution as well. This effectively brought the Bloc Socialiste and its allies out of the cabinet, but the leftist coalition was restored to power when the Social Liberal Party joined the Dranland Pro-Life Party in a new cabinet. Theta ARC/KRC simultaneously launched a massive smear campaign against the Bloc Socialiste, most likely funded by the Church of Scientology. The Bloc Socialiste lost around forty seats in the following election. Despite still retaining its status as one of Dranland's most powerful parties, it voted to disband after Cassandra Duvalier announced her resignation as General Secretary and her intention to join the Democrats of the Left, a new party in the Confederated Regions of Aloria. Category:Political parties in Dankuk